Smisek said United would reduce its number of daily Cleveland flights by about 60%, keeping most of its "mainline" flights at Cleveland but slashing about 70% of those flown by the company's United Express regional partners.

Once all of the cuts are phased in by June, United's Cleveland schedule will drop from about 199 daily departures to 72.

United will still operate six mainland U.S. hubs without Cleveland. They are Chicago O'Hare, Denver, Houston Bush Intercontinental, Los Angeles, Newark Liberty and San Francisco.

In a sliver of good news for Cleveland, the city will have more nonstop routes and flights on United than a typical non-hub city -- even after the cuts. But Smisek said those will be aimed at passengers heading to or from Cleveland, not at connecting passengers.

United will continue to offer nonstop flights between Cleveland and 20 destinations, flying to its six reamining hubs and 14 other cities. That's down significantly, however, from the 61 nonstop destinations that United and its United Express affiliates currently serve from Cleveland, according to The Plain Dealer of Cleveland.